Gabriela Alicia Leal

I have lived most of my life in Monterrey, Mexico, where I grew up, went to college, and fell in love with writing and editing. I am a taco enthusiast and a proud auntie who loves a competitive volleyball game. I am also a firm believer that an album should be listened to in its entirety, and I'd love to recommend my favorites. 

In my free time, you will find me reading music reviews, and coming up with new creations in the kitchen as I experiment with Mexican cooking and baking.

I have successfully driven key initiatives and achieved impactful results over the last few years.

Some of my accomplishments as Managing Bilingual Editor and Writer for the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) include:

- Managed a 4-person team across three departments to monitor and complete translation requests within set deadlines.
- Finalized 250+ localization requests by collaborating across teams and disciplines (Education, Marketing, Legal, and Design).
- Wrote audience-driven stories by engaging and empathizing with our audience.
- Increased newsletter subscriptions by 79% by sharing high-quality content tailored to our Spanish-speaking members.

As the LATAM Localization Specialist for the Hallow app, I have achieved the following: 

- Drove a 75.42% increase in subscription trials in 12 months through localized content for Spanish-speaking users.
- Doubled daily active users by analyzing and interpreting marketing data to craft high-impact content.
- Launched 300+ localized marketing campaigns by engaging with cross-functional teams (Design, Marketing, and Content).

With a strong track record in managing a bilingual team, ensuring content aligns with brand voice and guidelines, and developing Spanish style guides, I’m confident in my ability to meet your company’s needs.

As a writer for HSLDA, I've written digital stories that are accessible, linguistically accurate, and aligned with brand guidelines. Throughout the past two years and a half, I have honed my ability to create attention-grabbing headlines, edit strategically, and deliver messaging that corresponds with HSLDA's core values. 

These are some of my favorite pieces. (To access each article's Spanish version, click 'Español' in the top-right corner.)

I increased HSLDA's Spanish newsletter subscriptions by 79% in 2024 by collaborating with the Spanish and email team at HSLDA, leveraging A/B testing insights, and curating content tailored to the needs of our Spanish-speaking audience.

Launching and managing this newsletter has equipped me with critical thinking, creativity, and audience awareness—essential components for producing effective content for a specific audience.

Hallow is a prayer app that encourages users worldwide to find peace through prayer. It's the #1 Catholic app in the United States. As a copywriting consultant for Hallow's Latin American market, I create warm, accessible, exciting, and inviting copy for their push notifications and email campaigns, encouraging users to engage with the app's prayer content.

Below, I've included examples of my original copy in Spanish with their English translations and the strategies I use based on our brand tone and data insights.

English translation: 

The Pope counts on your prayer

Let’s pray for the monthly intention of the Pope: that each of us might listen with our hearts to the cry of the earth. 🌳🍃

Copy strategy: 

- Instead of using “Pray for the Pope’s monthly intention now!”, I use “the Pope counts on your prayer” to avoid an aggressive tone.
- I add what the Pope’s monthly intention is, so users feel motivated to pray for that specific intention.
- I add emojis that are related to the prayer intention, to make the text colorful and appealing.
- I link to the specific prayer session in the app so users can access it as soon as they click on the push notification, per Hallow’s guidelines. 

English translation: 

Sleep in the presence of God 😴

Let God guide you to a deep sleep through the Scriptures. Listen to our Lectio for Sleep collection now at Hallow.

Copy strategy: 

- I indirectly address the pain point of not being able to fall asleep by inviting users to “sleep in the presence of God” in the title. (A lot of users struggle to fall asleep and they download the app for its sleep content.)
- I provide a solution to the pain point by inviting users to let themselves be guided by God to a good night's sleep through the Scriptures.
- I add the specific name of the collection and link to it, so users access it.
- We schedule the push to be sent around 8 pm, so users are reminded of this collection before they go to bed and pray it. This results in a higher conversion rate. 

English translation:

Day 1 with Mother Teresa 💙

Join Fr. Ignacio Amorós on this beautiful journey. “Mother Teresa's life is one of those captivating lives that marks a before and after in history."

Copy strategy: 

- Per Hallow’s messaging guidelines, I write a simple and short subject line to remind users that today starts the prayer challenge about the life of Mother Teresa. (We’ve already sent a previous email with more context inviting them to join the waitlist for this challenge).
- I use a blue heart emoji, because the color blue is associated with Mother Teresa’s image, and Hallow’s design for the challenge. 
- I mention the popular influencer who’s guiding users in this challenge: Fr. Ignacio Amorós.
- I add a captivating quote from Fr. Ignacio Amorós about Mother Teresa so users are inspired to join the challenge and learn more about her life.

I've edited and proofread over 150 stories and articles in English and over 250 content pieces in Spanish (the latter includes stories, blog posts, legal articles, video scripts, webinar copy, and more). I focus on improving quality, consistency, grammar, and punctuation while ensuring the appropriate tone and voice according to brand guidelines. 

Below is a selection of the editing and proofreading work in English I've done in collaboration with senior editors at HSLDA: